HERE MAY BE SPOILERS

Portions of the movie may or may not be revealed.

Synopsis: Beneath the fake blood and cheap masks of countless haunted house attractions across the country, there are whispers of truly terrifying alternatives. Looking to find an authentic, blood-curdling good fright for Halloween, five friends set off on a road trip in an RV to track down these underground Haunts. Just when their search seems to reach a dead end, strange and disturbing things start happening and it becomes clear that the Haunt has come to them…

Today we have the found-footage (i.e. some of the film was shot with a hand-held camera) movie.

The Houses October Built is quite a creepy movie. The gist of the movie is that five friends travel in an RV on old back roads of the countryside(you know that’s already trouble) to find the underground haunted houses which contain the REAL scares. Because, you know, the extreme haunted houses just aren’t enough scares for these people. And, I supposed bored twenty-somethings need a “real scare” to wake them out of their stylish boredom.

Of course, on the way, they’re asking the haunted house actors about the underground haunted houses where the terror is real.

Sigh. Mind you, the movie is framed as a documentary. Just seeing the interviews with these haunted house “players” was enough for me. Some of these folks presented a scary presence even without the makeup. In addition, it’s implied some of these folks are on the shady side of the law, and might not be the best folks to be trusted.

Eventually, the trip turns weird. They are being followed by a creepy crew who don’t speak but just stare, a la The Strangers. Instead of turning around and driving all night to get home, (because, movie) they continue on this trip and are stalked by some nefarious miscreants.

All in all, the movie was averagely (is that a word) satisfying and the haunted house themselves give you a bit of a scare, while the people they interview give you an overall uneasy vibe.

I do wish the ending had been different. If you want to know what I’m talking about, scroll past the trailer.

All in all I say, take the ride with the movie. If you resist the urge to get annoyed at some of the actors’ decisions, you’ll finish the movie with a couple of genuinely creepy moments.

Grade: B– The characters grew to be rather stupid and thus unlikable, but as a horror movie, they do deliver on the scares.

Note: There is a film of the same name from 2011. I have not seen that one, but from what I read about it, it’s more of a documentary than fictionalized horror movie. The same people are in it and they use some of the real clips of the interviews in the 2014 film.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

The ending was a flop for me because it ended up being just a bunch of killers. I would have liked it to be just an extreme haunted house experience. I think that would have made the entire movie much more interesting.

This movie almost WRECKED my marriage. (See what I did there?) My husband had the day off and I suggested we watch a movie.

“Hey, we’ll watch this movie. It’s terrible, but it’ll be fun! We’ll have a few laughs!”

Famous last words.

I’ve seen some horror dreck in my lifetime. I’ve watched the Friday the 13th movies and stuff that I can’t even recall I’ve seen because it’s been so terrible. But I’ve been able to laugh and point and giggle about the director and/or writer being awful. Or awful acting. Sometimes, the movie is bad, but you can see the actors are having fun, so it makes up for it.

This was not the case with this movie. This movie was just bad with no redeeming qualities. None. Wait. I did love the red Mustang and some of the shots were gorgeous. I can say that. But I don’t watch a horror for its gorgeous shots. Really, I don’t.

Let me give you a little overview. Being a woman of a certain age, I have seen a ton of movies. I know most of the tricks, the cliches and the character tropes. And I deal with them, because, let’s be honest, there is nothing new under the sun. And that’s okay.

You know what’s not okay? This movie.

So it starts out, some cross country trip. Blonde girl is nice, brunette is nasty. She’s

Alternate poster?

drinking, pretending to smoke (As an ex smoker, I can tell a true inhale. You gotta savor that smoke to get that nicotine hit), flashing her boobs, etc. Meanwhile the driver, the good girl blonde is telling her to calm down. Okay, look, blondie, you knew your girl was out of control before she got in the car, so why all the peeved admonishments?

Side note: The poster? Where it says ‘you stop, you die’. They stopped plenty of times and no matter how much I wished……well. Movie poster is a liar.

Anyway, they somehow anger some random tow truck driver and he starts messing with them. I would go on, but even thinking about the movie makes me tired. Suffice it to say many stupid things happen and then it’s over.

Another side note: This second poster? Talking about ‘a wrong turn’? This is also a lie. They took a shortcut ON PURPOSE.

I’ve seen Duel. I’ve seen Joyride. Both were way better and Duel was made in the EARLY seventies. In Wrecker, the acting is terrible. The choices the characters make are ridiculous and make no sense. And…the whole movie had my face screwed up.

My husband was not pleased. What a waste of 70 odd minutes.

Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

Grade: F
Watch or not to watch?: Don’t bother. It’s not even bad enough to have fun with.

Some writers take a break from writing and go on social media. I don’t find social media relaxing. In fact, it clutters up the mind and may even stunt creativity.

The occasional peek into asocial media platform can turn into following conversations that more often than not ended with name-calling and pointing nasty fingers. The quick scan of another social media feed included more politics than I cared to consume on a daily basis. It was becoming more difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff and my space, the area of my spirit I used for creativity, was suffering.

I don’t go in for controversy, detailed celeb news or negative speak. I was always one to believe actions speak louder than words. See something wrong? Do what you can in the moment. I believe that peace can overcome war. I believe in protecting my headspace.

Being an writer in the genre I chose, I understand there will always be some controversy. Someone doesn’t like this book. A reviewer gives an unfair reading of an author’s book. Readers lash out at authors. Authors lash out at readers.

I’m not going to say “can’t we all just get along”. Nope. I can only control my actions.

So, I cleaned house. I hid the posts that gave me agita. I cleared my feeds and added positive vibes, rather than negative ones. I loaded my playlist with meditative music and pulled out my mala beads.

It’s so important to stay focused on the things which have true meaning in one’s life: family, friends and the beauty of life itself. It’s very easy to get caught up in the raging tides of every day, especially when the Internet can bring it right into your home.

Certainly, this is not a post that advocates ignoring everything around you and navel-gazing for peace. There is a time and a place for everything. When you feel yourself become overwhelmed, then it’s time to take a break. It’ll wait, right?

Hey there! Happy Monday to all of you! I enjoy the new start of the week when I can sit down in front of the computer and get to work. Check out the new graphic! I figured if I didn’t have to create a new graphic every time I had to write this blog post, it would make things a little easier. We’ll see!

Music Monday -Cover Songs – Sound of Silence

I am always a little behind when it comes to music. I don’t really listen to the radio and depend on my Google Play library. My music library includes the American Songbook, show tunes, some almost up to the minute music and of course, a healthy dose of the eighties.
I was tooling around on youtube a week or so ago and I found this song by Disturbed. I liked their cover of Land of Confusion: it has a much darker tone and is a little less “poppy” than the original Genesis version. However, I am a bit of a folk music fan. I love my John Denver, Simon and Garfunkel, and Peter, Paul and Mary. Curious to see what they did with the song, I clicked. And was hooked.

First, however, if you haven’t heard it, take a listen to Simon and Garfunkel’s version:

When Simon and Garfunkel did the song, it was a telling commentary on society’s behavior toward one another…”People hearing without listening”….”People writing songs that voices never share” and “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls.” Nice, kinda abstract statements.

Disturbed takes it and makes it personal. Way personal. The singer’s voice is gut-wrenching, giving the impression he’s given the lyrics a lot of thought and things haven’t changed so very much since the song came out over thirty years ago.

Once you add in the sparse, minimalistic images of the video, you see Disturbed has turned the song into an experience.

Listen the first time. Pay attention to David Draiman’s growl and how he attacks the words. Then, once you’ve absorbed, add the video.

I’ve seen all over social media about how people are planning to order in and binge watch this show or that show on Netflix (my viewing poison of choice) or from their bulging DVR lists. Take it from me, I love some television. I will watch Mountain Monsters, Law and Order (The Lenny Briscoe years), Finding Bigfoot (you know they’re just thisclose to finding Bigfoot, right?) River Monsters and an occasional Tosh.0.

But I don’t binge watch. It drives me nuts.

Being a detailed oriented person, I tend to notice details and the underlying structure of things. Take Law and Order for instance. The show follows a consistent pattern most times you see it. It’s comforting, knowing what’s coming next, but yet still being entertained by the writing. Most shows, however don’t stand up to that scrutiny.

One show I watched on Netflix was so fascinating to me I kept clicking “next episode”. After the third episode, however, I found myself getting annoyed with the characters. By the fourth, I was rolling my eyes and shut it off in the middle.

The problem was, each and every episode started with one character wandering off and the second character chasing after him. This is how they jumped into whatever hijinks the writers scheduled for them that week. Yawn. Wasn’t there any other way to kick off the inciting incident?

Binge-watching keeps me from absorbing the nuances of an episode, rolling the events of the story around in my head and mulling over what might happen next. Watching one episode after another doesn’t give me space or time to do that.

I like to let the characters and situations linger, allow them to breathe like a fine wine. I certainly wouldn’t pour a bottle of perfume over myself. Binge watching is like eating a whole cake in one sitting. Sure, the first two or three pieces might be pretty good, but after that, the flavor becomes dull and unsatisfying.

So I don’t binge watch. I don’t like it and sometimes it serves to turn me off a show. Plus who has the time to veg out in front of the television? There’s life outside to be lived!